I wonder if anybody has some advice please. I have a fig in a pot in my greenhouse but it has been inhabited by a large colony of ants. I am loathe to kill them as they seem harmless little creatures but will they cause long term damage to the plant if left alone ?

I didn't realise it was that technical. I normally just rinse through over ripe fruit and dry the seeds on kitchen roll. I will certainly try fermentation this year. Just to show how resilient tomato seeds are though, I spread my compost bin on one of my beds in the spring and I still have several healthy Gardeners Delight fruiting at the moment courtesy of a few seeds that slipped through last year.

I'm only just catching up on past discussions due to my computer being down but I was a bit disappointed with this year's show. I'd not been for three years and it seemed quite a bit thinner on the ground with only one tool company showing and big empty spaces in the floral marquee. That said we were there from just after opening until kicking out time so it couldn't have been that bad. Bought a beautiful lime green heuchera for a themed pot and a gorgeous deep purple hydrangea which I'm sure I will turn white without any trouble.